Goodbye to Albion Square!
After 10 wonderful years in Albion Square, Haggerston, we bid farewell to our lovely cedarwood decked piano workshop at the end of July.
Bunga bunga
I encountered this portrait of Berlusconi when tuning today at the house of Martin Sorrell (CEO of WPP). On closer inspection his face is made up of parts of women’s bodies, stockings etc. Mi piace!
Wilton’s Music Hall
I was working on the pianos at Wilton’s Music Hall today, the oldest surviving music hall in the world, a slice of East London history which has just undergone £2.2m of repairs! They have two of our uprights – a 122 for the auditorium and a Feurich 115 in the cocktail bar. The 23rd June will […]
Grand piano for Sarm studio 2
This week we were delighted to send our plucky little Wendl & Lung model 161 grand piano to Sarm Studio 2 on a trial basis. This replaces the Steinway that moved over the road to the Sarm Music Village. I can’t remember which megastars recorded in that studio (although we definitely tuned for Jamie Cullum […]
Tuned at Kensington Palace
I just tuned at Kensington Palace – here is the view from the rear! Its bizarrely quiet and peaceful for central London…
Erard concert grand action
I’ve just spent a Sunday morning taking apart an 1890 Erard concert grand action. Sebastian Erard made fantastic, idiosyncratic, complex and meticulously crafted pianos. Look at how complicated the lever flange is in the photo. Note too the solid brass on the hammer flanges. In fact, there’s more brass in this piano than in a […]
Clandon Park House fire
I’m gutted to see that Clandon Park House has burnt down! I spent a memorable day there in November with the Heilmann fortepiano for Ian Peter Bujega’s spiritedly youthful Les Bougies Baroques.
Jack Penate
Just tuned for Jack Penate at a temporary studio he has set up in South Bermondsey to record an album. A lovely chap, hopefully I can sort him out with a better piano!
Guy Chambers’s studio
I was at Sleeper Sounds Studio in west London the other day replacing some defective bass strings on a Baldwin upright piano. The studio is the home of Guy Chambers, who has made his name writing and producing for Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Diana Ross, Beverley Knight, Andrea Bocelli, James Blunt, Tina Turner, Jamie Cullum, Katie […]
Unusual places to tune a piano…
This is what I get up to at the crack of dawn, tuning in Westfield Shopping Centre. Westfield London and Westfield Stratford both have Yamaha S6 grand pianos, which are regularly used for concerts and performances.